This chapter seeks to understand how Islamist movements have evolved over time, and, in the process, provide important background on the political and religious contexts of the movements in question. ...
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This chapter seeks to understand how Islamist movements have evolved over time, and, in the process, provide important background on the political and religious contexts of the movements in question. In particular, it shows that Islamist movements coevolve. Focusing on the histories of Morocco's two main Islamist movements—the Justice and Spirituality Organization, or Al Adl wal Ihsan (Al Adl) and the Party of Justice and Development (PJD)—it suggests that their evolutions can only be fully appreciated if they are relayed in unison. These movements mirror one another depending on the competitive context, sometimes reflecting, sometimes refracting, sometimes borrowing, sometimes adapting or even reorganizing in order to keep up with the other.Less

Coevolution

Avi Max Spiegel

Published in print: 2015-05-26

This chapter seeks to understand how Islamist movements have evolved over time, and, in the process, provide important background on the political and religious contexts of the movements in question. In particular, it shows that Islamist movements coevolve. Focusing on the histories of Morocco's two main Islamist movements—the Justice and Spirituality Organization, or Al Adl wal Ihsan (Al Adl) and the Party of Justice and Development (PJD)—it suggests that their evolutions can only be fully appreciated if they are relayed in unison. These movements mirror one another depending on the competitive context, sometimes reflecting, sometimes refracting, sometimes borrowing, sometimes adapting or even reorganizing in order to keep up with the other.

Gnosticism is a countercultural spirituality that forever changed the practice of Christianity. Before it emerged in the second century, passage to the afterlife required obedience to God and king. ...
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Gnosticism is a countercultural spirituality that forever changed the practice of Christianity. Before it emerged in the second century, passage to the afterlife required obedience to God and king. Gnosticism proposed that human beings were manifestations of the divine, unsettling the hierarchical foundations of the ancient world. Subversive and revolutionary, Gnostics taught that prayer and mediation could bring human beings into an ecstatic spiritual union with a transcendent deity. This mystical strain affected not just Christianity but many other religions, and it characterizes our understanding of the purpose and meaning of religion today.
In The Gnostic New Age, April D. DeConick recovers this vibrant underground history to prove that Gnosticism was not suppressed or defeated by the Catholic Church long ago, nor was the movement a fabrication to justify the violent repression of alternative forms of Christianity. Gnosticism alleviated human suffering, soothing feelings of existential brokenness and alienation through the promise of renewal as God. DeConick begins in ancient Egypt and follows with the rise of Gnosticism in the Middle Ages, the advent of theosophy and other occult movements in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and contemporary New Age spiritual philosophies. As these theories find expression in science-fiction and fantasy films, DeConick sees evidence of Gnosticism’s next incarnation. Her work emphasizes the universal, countercultural appeal of a movement that embodies much more than a simple challenge to religious authority.Less

The Gnostic New Age : How a Countercultural Spirituality Revolutionized Religion from Antiquity to Today

April D. DeConick

Published in print: 2016-09-27

Gnosticism is a countercultural spirituality that forever changed the practice of Christianity. Before it emerged in the second century, passage to the afterlife required obedience to God and king. Gnosticism proposed that human beings were manifestations of the divine, unsettling the hierarchical foundations of the ancient world. Subversive and revolutionary, Gnostics taught that prayer and mediation could bring human beings into an ecstatic spiritual union with a transcendent deity. This mystical strain affected not just Christianity but many other religions, and it characterizes our understanding of the purpose and meaning of religion today.
In The Gnostic New Age, April D. DeConick recovers this vibrant underground history to prove that Gnosticism was not suppressed or defeated by the Catholic Church long ago, nor was the movement a fabrication to justify the violent repression of alternative forms of Christianity. Gnosticism alleviated human suffering, soothing feelings of existential brokenness and alienation through the promise of renewal as God. DeConick begins in ancient Egypt and follows with the rise of Gnosticism in the Middle Ages, the advent of theosophy and other occult movements in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and contemporary New Age spiritual philosophies. As these theories find expression in science-fiction and fantasy films, DeConick sees evidence of Gnosticism’s next incarnation. Her work emphasizes the universal, countercultural appeal of a movement that embodies much more than a simple challenge to religious authority.

Contemporary culture reflects widespread isolation from and ignorance about our interdependence with the earth and wider cosmos. This loss has led to an impoverished sense of community as membership ...
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Contemporary culture reflects widespread isolation from and ignorance about our interdependence with the earth and wider cosmos. This loss has led to an impoverished sense of community as membership within a created whole. By marking our inter-relatedness with the soil and then noting the significance of the doctrine of creation in terms of its moral and spiritual significance, the possibility exists for a revisioning of salvation in terms of the health and wholeness of all creation.Less

Introduction

Norman Wirzba

Published in print: 2003-09-25

Contemporary culture reflects widespread isolation from and ignorance about our interdependence with the earth and wider cosmos. This loss has led to an impoverished sense of community as membership within a created whole. By marking our inter-relatedness with the soil and then noting the significance of the doctrine of creation in terms of its moral and spiritual significance, the possibility exists for a revisioning of salvation in terms of the health and wholeness of all creation.

Sacred Knowledge is the first well-documented, sophisticated account of the effect of psychedelics on biological processes, human consciousness, and revelatory religious experiences. Based on nearly ...
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Sacred Knowledge is the first well-documented, sophisticated account of the effect of psychedelics on biological processes, human consciousness, and revelatory religious experiences. Based on nearly three decades of legal research with volunteers, William A. Richards argues that, if used responsibly and legally, psychedelics have the potential to assuage suffering and constructively affect the quality of human life. Richards’s analysis contributes to social and political debates over the responsible integration of psychedelic substances into modern society. His book serves as an invaluable resource for readers who, whether spontaneously or with the facilitation of psychedelics, have encountered meaningful, inspiring, or even disturbing states of consciousness and seek clarity about their experiences. Testing the limits of language and conceptual frameworks, Richards makes the most of experiential phenomena that stretch our conception of reality, advancing new frontiers in the study of belief, spiritual awakening, psychiatric treatment, and social well-being. His findings enrich humanities and scientific scholarship, expanding work in philosophy, anthropology, theology, and religious studies and bringing depth to research in mental health, psychotherapy, and psychopharmacology.Less

Sacred Knowledge : Psychedelics and Religious Experiences

William Richards

Published in print: 2015-12-08

Sacred Knowledge is the first well-documented, sophisticated account of the effect of psychedelics on biological processes, human consciousness, and revelatory religious experiences. Based on nearly three decades of legal research with volunteers, William A. Richards argues that, if used responsibly and legally, psychedelics have the potential to assuage suffering and constructively affect the quality of human life. Richards’s analysis contributes to social and political debates over the responsible integration of psychedelic substances into modern society. His book serves as an invaluable resource for readers who, whether spontaneously or with the facilitation of psychedelics, have encountered meaningful, inspiring, or even disturbing states of consciousness and seek clarity about their experiences. Testing the limits of language and conceptual frameworks, Richards makes the most of experiential phenomena that stretch our conception of reality, advancing new frontiers in the study of belief, spiritual awakening, psychiatric treatment, and social well-being. His findings enrich humanities and scientific scholarship, expanding work in philosophy, anthropology, theology, and religious studies and bringing depth to research in mental health, psychotherapy, and psychopharmacology.

This book introduces a process-based, patient-centered approach to palliative care that substantiates an indication-oriented treatment and radical reconsideration of our transition to death. Drawing ...
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This book introduces a process-based, patient-centered approach to palliative care that substantiates an indication-oriented treatment and radical reconsideration of our transition to death. Drawing on decades of work with terminally ill cancer patients and a trove of research on near-death experiences, Monika Renz encourages practitioners to not only safeguard patients’ dignity as they die but also take stock of their verbal, nonverbal, and metaphorical cues as they progress, helping to personalize treatment and realize a more peaceful death. Renz divides dying into three parts: pre-transition, transition, and post-transition. As we die, all egoism and ego-centered perception fall away, bringing us to another state of consciousness, a different register of sensitivity, and an alternative dimension of spiritual connectedness. As patients pass through these stages, they offer nonverbal signals that indicate their gradual withdrawal from everyday consciousness. This transformation explains why emotional and spiritual issues become enhanced during the dying process. Relatives and practitioners are often deeply impressed and feel a sense of awe. Fear and struggle shift to trust and peace; denial melts into acceptance. At first, family problems and the need for reconciliation are urgent, but gradually these concerns fade. By delineating these processes, Renz helps practitioners grow more cognizant of the changing emotions and symptoms of the patients under their care, enabling them to respond with the utmost respect for their patients’ dignity.Less

Dying : A Transition

Monika Renz

Published in print: 2015-10-06

This book introduces a process-based, patient-centered approach to palliative care that substantiates an indication-oriented treatment and radical reconsideration of our transition to death. Drawing on decades of work with terminally ill cancer patients and a trove of research on near-death experiences, Monika Renz encourages practitioners to not only safeguard patients’ dignity as they die but also take stock of their verbal, nonverbal, and metaphorical cues as they progress, helping to personalize treatment and realize a more peaceful death. Renz divides dying into three parts: pre-transition, transition, and post-transition. As we die, all egoism and ego-centered perception fall away, bringing us to another state of consciousness, a different register of sensitivity, and an alternative dimension of spiritual connectedness. As patients pass through these stages, they offer nonverbal signals that indicate their gradual withdrawal from everyday consciousness. This transformation explains why emotional and spiritual issues become enhanced during the dying process. Relatives and practitioners are often deeply impressed and feel a sense of awe. Fear and struggle shift to trust and peace; denial melts into acceptance. At first, family problems and the need for reconciliation are urgent, but gradually these concerns fade. By delineating these processes, Renz helps practitioners grow more cognizant of the changing emotions and symptoms of the patients under their care, enabling them to respond with the utmost respect for their patients’ dignity.

This book explores the popular yet troubling phenomenon of “ghost tours,” frequently promoted and experienced at plantations, urban manor homes, and cemeteries throughout the South. As a staple of ...
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This book explores the popular yet troubling phenomenon of “ghost tours,” frequently promoted and experienced at plantations, urban manor homes, and cemeteries throughout the South. As a staple of the tours, guides entertain paying customers by relying on stories of enslaved black specters. Through an examination of popular sites and stories from select ghost tours, this book shows that haunted tales routinely appropriate and skew African American history to produce representations of slavery for commercial gain. “Dark tourism” often highlights the most sensationalist and macabre aspects of slavery, from salacious sexual ties between white masters and black women slaves to the physical abuse and torture of black bodies, to the supposedly exotic nature of African spiritual practices. The book argues that because the realities of slavery are largely absent from these scripted historical experiences, the tours continue to feed problematic “Old South” narratives and erase the hard truths of the Civil War era.Less

Tales From the Haunted South : Dark Tourism and Memories of Slavery from the Civil War Era

Tiya Miles

Published in print: 2015-10-31

This book explores the popular yet troubling phenomenon of “ghost tours,” frequently promoted and experienced at plantations, urban manor homes, and cemeteries throughout the South. As a staple of the tours, guides entertain paying customers by relying on stories of enslaved black specters. Through an examination of popular sites and stories from select ghost tours, this book shows that haunted tales routinely appropriate and skew African American history to produce representations of slavery for commercial gain. “Dark tourism” often highlights the most sensationalist and macabre aspects of slavery, from salacious sexual ties between white masters and black women slaves to the physical abuse and torture of black bodies, to the supposedly exotic nature of African spiritual practices. The book argues that because the realities of slavery are largely absent from these scripted historical experiences, the tours continue to feed problematic “Old South” narratives and erase the hard truths of the Civil War era.

Women's religions are, from a cross-cultural perspective, anomalous. Most of the religions of the world are dominated by men. This chapter presents twelve examples of religions dominated by women. ...
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Women's religions are, from a cross-cultural perspective, anomalous. Most of the religions of the world are dominated by men. This chapter presents twelve examples of religions dominated by women. First, it points out ways in which these religions differ from one another. Some of the examples are self-consciously independent religions that exist in a society where the dominant religion is male dominated (Feminist Spirituality, Afro-Brazilian religions). Others are religious streams that co-exist alongside of, and sometimes intertwined with, male-dominated religions (zār, Spiritualism, Korean shamanism, Burmese nat cultus). Still others are the major religion of an entire society (the Ryūkyū Islands, the Black Caribs of Belize). And finally, others are sects of otherwise male-dominated religions (Christian Science, Shakerism).Less

The Examples

Susan Starr Sered

Published in print: 1996-12-05

Women's religions are, from a cross-cultural perspective, anomalous. Most of the religions of the world are dominated by men. This chapter presents twelve examples of religions dominated by women. First, it points out ways in which these religions differ from one another. Some of the examples are self-consciously independent religions that exist in a society where the dominant religion is male dominated (Feminist Spirituality, Afro-Brazilian religions). Others are religious streams that co-exist alongside of, and sometimes intertwined with, male-dominated religions (zār, Spiritualism, Korean shamanism, Burmese nat cultus). Still others are the major religion of an entire society (the Ryūkyū Islands, the Black Caribs of Belize). And finally, others are sects of otherwise male-dominated religions (Christian Science, Shakerism).

Kethoprak—a popular form of the performing arts in Indonesia—is both subversive and satirical. It looks to the social, political, and religious elites and holds up, before them, a funhouse mirror of ...
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Kethoprak—a popular form of the performing arts in Indonesia—is both subversive and satirical. It looks to the social, political, and religious elites and holds up, before them, a funhouse mirror of post-modern distortion that, not without irony, often exposes their shortcomings and failures to the wider public. More than this, however, kethoprak is about an interior orientation, about a way of subjectively perceiving and processing the external world. It is about the methodological practice of attuning oneself, and one’s audience, to seeing things differently. In this way, kethoprak becomes a popular form of participatory democracy. It also shares many characteristic elements with Ignatian Spirituality via Roland Barthes interpretation of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Susanto identifies in both kethoprak and Ignatian Spirituality a process whereby one learns to see more clearly and to attend to one’s surroundings more critically. As a result, both kethoprak and Ignatian Spirituality tap into the internal movements, and the external experiences, of not only the performers and audiences at a show, but of all Indonesians whose lives take place outside the elite circles of power.Less

The Performing Art of Kethoprak and the Democratic “Power to Will” in Indonesia

Albertus Budi Susanto

Published in print: 2015-11-02

Kethoprak—a popular form of the performing arts in Indonesia—is both subversive and satirical. It looks to the social, political, and religious elites and holds up, before them, a funhouse mirror of post-modern distortion that, not without irony, often exposes their shortcomings and failures to the wider public. More than this, however, kethoprak is about an interior orientation, about a way of subjectively perceiving and processing the external world. It is about the methodological practice of attuning oneself, and one’s audience, to seeing things differently. In this way, kethoprak becomes a popular form of participatory democracy. It also shares many characteristic elements with Ignatian Spirituality via Roland Barthes interpretation of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Susanto identifies in both kethoprak and Ignatian Spirituality a process whereby one learns to see more clearly and to attend to one’s surroundings more critically. As a result, both kethoprak and Ignatian Spirituality tap into the internal movements, and the external experiences, of not only the performers and audiences at a show, but of all Indonesians whose lives take place outside the elite circles of power.

In the final chapter the second phase of Ramsay’s political works are considered: Les Voyages de Cyrus (1727) and the A Plan of Education for a Young Prince (1732). Ramsay’s Cyrus used Xenephon’s ...
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In the final chapter the second phase of Ramsay’s political works are considered: Les Voyages de Cyrus (1727) and the A Plan of Education for a Young Prince (1732). Ramsay’s Cyrus used Xenephon’s progenitor of the mirror-for-princes genre to continue his call for strong centralised monarchy supported by a small hereditary aristocracy. Making greater use of Fénelon and Bossuet’s educational works, Ramsay advanced a view of the state and society that fused politics and spirituality. In his desire to return to a Golden Age of humanity, Ramsay advocated greater co-operation between states in order to collect ancient wisdom and engender virtue. A world that embraced the commercial age and strengthened the British state under the leadership of a Stuart monarchy becoming the ‘Capital of the Universe.’ The chapter demonstrates that by the end of his political works, Ramsay had in fact embraced the role of Parliament and public liberty in his vision of a global Britain.Less

A mythical education: Ramsay’s Cyrus and Plan

Andrew Mansfield

Published in print: 2015-04-01

In the final chapter the second phase of Ramsay’s political works are considered: Les Voyages de Cyrus (1727) and the A Plan of Education for a Young Prince (1732). Ramsay’s Cyrus used Xenephon’s progenitor of the mirror-for-princes genre to continue his call for strong centralised monarchy supported by a small hereditary aristocracy. Making greater use of Fénelon and Bossuet’s educational works, Ramsay advanced a view of the state and society that fused politics and spirituality. In his desire to return to a Golden Age of humanity, Ramsay advocated greater co-operation between states in order to collect ancient wisdom and engender virtue. A world that embraced the commercial age and strengthened the British state under the leadership of a Stuart monarchy becoming the ‘Capital of the Universe.’ The chapter demonstrates that by the end of his political works, Ramsay had in fact embraced the role of Parliament and public liberty in his vision of a global Britain.